This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

Nova Scotia union leaders on what Labour Day means to them

By Silas BrownFor StarMetro Halifax

Mon., Sept. 3, 2018

HALIFAX—Nova Scotian union members and allies took to the streets for the annual Labour Day march Monday, marking the accomplishments of the worldwide labour movement and also the work that remains to be done.

The president of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU) said that in some ways the original ethos of Labour Day has been lost over the years.

Members of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union (NSTU) walk down Robie St. during Halifax's annual Labour Day march. (Silas Brown/For StarMetro)

“I believe that it is changed over time, that this is just a day of rest for people — but it’s supposed to be a day of celebration and reflection and a day that you look back to everything that you’ve been through,” said Jason MacLean at the end of the march.

“You have people doing more for less. So when people are exhausted like that, they enjoy their family time more, they don’t necessarily have the chance to get out and celebrate a day like today, so people are trying to take advantage of every bit of time off that they can.”

Canada’s modern Labour Day has its roots in an 1872 strike of the Toronto Typographical Union who fought for the implementation of a nine hour work day. In solidarity with the printers’ union, labour parades became an annual occurrence until finally, in 1892 the Canadian government officially declared the first Monday in September to be Labour Day.

Article Continued Below

Now, Labour Day often stands in as the last day of summer, the final holiday before children return to school, and the leaves start to turn and Canadians dig in preparing for winter.

When asked what Labour Day means to him, MacLean said that it’s primarily about history.

“Labour Day to me is a celebration of all the battles, all the fights that people have throughout the years. So this is a recognition for what unions have done over the years,” he said.

“It is a reset on the year to come. When I look at the summer months, I look at it as time that people sit back, reflect, they make decisions on what they want to do in the coming year, so although it’s not the new year, it is a new year of starting off.”

Ayamba Ramba, UNIFOR member and Aboriginal and Workers of Colour representative, says that the biggest issue facing unions today is division - but they are more vital than ever because so much happens 'behind closed doors.' (Silas Brown/For StarMetro)

For Ayamba Ramba, a UNIFOR member and Aboriginal and Workers of Colour representative, the day is one of commemoration. But beyond that, it is also a day to remember how necessary unions remain.

“It’s a day that we commemorate all the fights that other people started long ago and now to make our living, working conditions more tolerable and to get more people united and coming into solidarity because there’s a lot of challenges that we face with our employers,” Ramba said.

“This labour movement came into existence for a reason, because there was a lot of oppression back in the day. So we don’t want to go back to those dark days, because that is what employers try to do, break us down. So it means a lot.”

Article Continued Below

Ramba works in aerospace repairing airplanes. He has been involved with his local for the last three or four years and says that unions are just as important now as they have ever been.

“It’s significantly important because they address a lot of things,” Ramba said when asked about the role of unions. “A lot of things happen behind closed doors that we don’t know about. But unions always bring it to our attention... If we don’t stick together things will be completely different.”

“UNIFOR or the labour movement [are] kind of like a watchdog to see things that happen behind closed doors and bring it into light.”

Jason MacLean, president of the NSGEU, says that Labour Day 'is a celebration of all the battles, all the fights that people have throughout the years.' (Silas Brown/For StarMetro)

“We all have difference. Your fingers are not all the same: there are short ones, there are tall ones, but they all work together to get the job done. That’s all we need. Because at the end of the day we all have the same needs. You want to be able to go back home, put food on the table and be able to raise your family.”

Paul Wozney, newly-minted president of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union, agrees that in some ways the true spirit of Labour Day has been lost, but that it’s viewed primarily as a holiday more than anything else is not particularly unique to the first Monday of September.

“I think you could say the same thing about a lot of other days that we celebrate. Whether people know what Easter means, or whether people know what Family Day in Nova Scotia means—that’s a brand new holiday. I think it’s a struggle to keep the purpose and the intent of a day, what it commemorates, what it stands for, that’s a struggle for anybody,” he said.

“It’s an ongoing responsibility of unions to make sure that their mission and their voice is relevant and connected to Nova Scotians.”

Wozney, who takes the helm of the NSTU just as school administrators have been placed into a different union and Nova Scotia’s elected school boards have been axed, wants to remind people of the role that unionized workers play in the province.

“You know when you look at the kind of work that unionized workers are involved in, a lot of the unions that are here today are involved in the services that Nova Scotians value the most highly,” Wozney said.

“Healthcare, education, justice, community services. We know that these are sort of pillars of our community and our social fabric and if we don’t have qualified people that are well taken care of and able to deliver the highest quality of service, we know that it really has a negative impact on society at large.”

More from The Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com